The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-12-23

musical keys or soar In jubilant lay. It viii
i cure pain. It win rest fatigue. It will queu
! passion. II wiz revive health. It viii re
claim dissipation. 1t viii strengthen the Inn
mortal soul In the battle of Waterloo, We'll
| lington saw that the Highlanders were fall
ing back. He said: 'sWhat is the matter
theregr He was told that the band Of music
had ceased playing, and he called up the
| pipers and ordered them to strike up an In
spiIiting air; and no sooner did they strike
the air than the Highlanders were rallied and
helped to win the day Oh, ye who have
been routed in the conflicts of life, try by the
force of music to rally your scattered bat
talions
lam glad to know that in our great cities
there Is hardly night in which there are not
concerts where, with the best musical instru-
ments and the sweetest voices, people may
! find entertainment. Patronize such enter
tainments when they are afforded you. Buy
monicn and the "Handel and Haydn socie-
ties Feel that the dollar and half or two
dollars that you spend for the purpose Of
hearing an artist play or sing is a profitable
| investment Let your Steinway halls and
your academies Of music roar with the ac-
clamation of appreciative audiences assem-
Still further, commend as worthy Of sup
port the gymnasium. This Institution is
! gaining in favor every year. and know Of
nothing more free from dissipation or more
calculated to recuperate the physical and
mental energies. While there are a good
many people who have employed this insti-
tuition there is a vast number who are ig-
norant of its excellences. There are men
with cramped chests and weak sides and de-
spondent spirits who through the gymnasium
might be reused up to exuberpaas and ex-
hilaration of life. There arc mc; : Christian
people respondent from year 70 year who
might through such an institution be bene-
f1ted in their spiritual relations. There are
Christian people who seem to think that it Is
good sign to be poorly, and because Richard
Baxter and Robert Hall were invalids they
think that by the same ssickliness they may
come TO the same grandeur of character.
want to tell the Christian people Of my con-
gregation that God viii hold you responsible
for your invalidism il it is your fault and,
when through right exercise and prudence
you might be athletic and WELL The effect
of the body upon the soul you acknowledge.
Put a man of mild disposition upon the ami
NAL diet of which the Indian partakes and in
little while his blood viii change its chemi-
cal proportions. It viii become like unto
the blood of the lion or the tiger or the bear,
while his disposition viii change and become
fierce, cruel and unrelenting. The body has
a powerful effect upon the soul.
There are good people whose ideas of
heaven are all shut out with clouds of tobac-
CO smoke. There are people who dare to
shatter the physical vase in which God has
put the jewel of eternity. There are men
with great hearts and intellects in bodies worn
out by their own neglects- magnificent ma
chinery, capable of propelling Great East
ern across the Atlantic, yet fastened in
rickety North river propeller. Martin
Luther was so mighty for God, Hrst, because
he had noble soul, and secondly, because he
had muscular development which would
have enabled him to thrash any five Of his
prosecutors, if it had been Christian so to do.
Physical development which merely shows
itself in fabulous lifting, or in perilous rope
walking, or in pugilistic encounter, excites
only our contempt; but we confess to great
admiration for the man who has a great
soul In an athletic body, every nerve, muscle
and bone of which is consecrated to right
uses. Oh, it seems to me outrageous that
men, through neglect, should allow their
physical health to 60 down beyond repair. A
ship which ought, with all sail set and every
man at his post, to be carrying rich cargo
for eternity, employing all its men in stopping
up leakagesl When you may, through the
gymnasium, work of your spleen and your
querulousness and one-haf of your physical
and mental ailments, do not turn your back
upon such grand medicament
Still further: commend to you large
class of parlor games and recreations. There
is way of making our homes hundred
fold more attractive than they are now.
Those parents cannot expect to keep their
children away from outside designations UNI
less they make the domestic circle brighter
than anything they can find outside of it. Do
not, then, sit in your home surly and unsym-
pathetic, and with half condemnatory look,
because of the sportfulness Of your children.
You were young once yourself; let your chill
dren be young. Because your eyes are dim
and your ankles are stiff do not denounce
sportfulness in those upon whose eye there
Is the first luster, and In whose foot there Is
the bounding Joy of robust health. 7 thank
God that in our drawing rooms and in our
parlors there are innumerable games and
sports which have not upon them the least
faint of iniquity. Light up all your homes
with innocent hilarities. Do not sit down
with the rheumatism, wondering how
children can go on so. Rather thank God
that their hearts are so light and their
laughter is SO free, and that their cheeks are
soruddy and that their expectations are so ra-
diant. The night viii come soon enough,
and the heartbreak, and tine pang, and the
desolation-it will come soon enough for the
dear children But when the storm actually
clouds the sky it will be time enough for
you to haul out your reef tackles. Carry,
then, into your homes not only the innocent
sports and games which are the inventions of
our own day, but the games which come
down with the sportfulness of all the past
ages-chess and charades, and tableaux and
battledore, and calisthenics and lawn tennis
and all those amusements which the young
people Of our homes know so well how to
contrive. Then there win be the parlor soci-
alities-groups Of people assembled in your
homes, with wit and mimicry and. joyiality,
filing the room with Joy from the door to
the mantel and from the carpet 10 the cell
ing. Oil is there any exhilaration like
score Of genial souls in one room, each one
adding a contribution of his own individual
merriment to the aggregation of general
hilarityi
Suppose you.want to go abroad in the city,
then you will find the panorama and the art
gallery and exquisite collections of pictures.
You win find the Metropolitan museum and
the Historical society rooms full Of rare curl
osities, and scores Of places which caI1stand
plainly the test Of what Is right and wrong In
amusements. You win find the lecturing
hall xvhiob has haon honored bV the names